This week's Community Column is written by Argyll and Bute's Westminster MP, Brendan O'Hara.

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Never have any of us experienced anything remotely like this.

In a matter of weeks, the coronavirus, Covid-19, has turned our lives upside down and has fundamentally changed the way we live; staying indoors, keeping a safe distance from others when we do venture out, and the constant handwashing.

It has also brought into sharp focus how incredibly lucky we are to have the National Health Service that we do. I simply don’t have the words to adequately thank every single one of our NHS staff who have been working to keep us safe in these unprecedented times.

READ MORE: Helensburgh's volunteer army scrubs up to help frontline NHS staff

I’d also like to thank the overwhelming majority of people who have adapted to this dramatic change in lifestyle so quickly, recognising that the health of our families, our friends and our neighbours depends on us all of us doing the right thing.

As it surely will, this crisis will pass. When it does, we have to be in the best possible shape to get our economy going again, and I applaud much of what the Chancellor has put in place to protect jobs and businesses.

But he has to do more. He has to do more to help those small, medium size enterprises (SMEs) who, with tourism, agriculture and fishing, form the backbone of our economy in Argyll and Bute.

READ MORE: Do more to help our self-employed and freelance workers, says Helensburgh's MP

To ensure that we have something to come back to once this crisis has passed, we must do everything we can to protect what we currently have.

That’s why in the last couple of weeks I have been in almost constant contact with the Treasury about extending the Jobs Retention Scheme to allow those seasonal workers employed after the February cut-off date to benefit from furlough, and to ensure our SMEs have access to the finance they desperately need to protect them from going out of business.

I have also asked that the UK government revisit their Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and set out measures that will deliver financial relief and support right now to help those businesses who, through no fault of their own, are in danger of going to the wall.

READ MORE: Check out all the latest news from across Helensburgh and Lomond here